1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system management, and more particularly to a platform independent management controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling system servers are often operated in data centers that provide reliable power and cooling resources generally needed for operating information handling systems. A data center typically includes plural racks, each of which support multiple information handling systems in a vertically or horizontally stacked configuration. Information technology specialists generally manage the operation of server information handling systems through network interfaces. In order to perform certain management functions, such as remote power-up and power-down, information technology specialists generally access server information handling systems through a management subsystem that operates independently from the server information handling system itself. For example, each server information handling system in a server rack might include a baseboard management controller (BMC) that interfaces with a rack chassis management controller (CMC) to manage network, power and cooling resources. A BMC is basically a small computer system within the server information handling system that provides a management interface for information technology specialists to perform remote management functions.
One management interface that supports communication of management information for server information handling systems is the Intelligent Platform Management interface (IPMI). Recently, the DataCenter Manageability interface (DCMI) has been introduced as a replacement for IPMI. DCMI provides a standard for managing and monitoring server information handling systems that seeks to simplify management functions and replace IPMI in large scale datacenters. DCMI provides a standardized interface with out-of-band capabilities for remote operations via a network, such as remote power-on and power-down through a local area network. Some difficulties do exist with the installation and use of DCMI in datacenters. One difficulty is that a DCMI deployment typically needs one of two specific platforms to operate: a server with a BMC; or a server with INTEL ME and DCMI firmware. The limited platforms available for supporting DCMI make DCMI difficult to include in large datacenters that use a wide variety of platforms. Information technology specialists typically want to include servers and infrastructure components that use a common protocol, which makes DCMI difficult to deploy where a datacenter has legacy systems that do not support DCMI, such as servers that do not include a BMC or specialized INTEL firmware. In addition, DCMI typically does not support management of cooling fans, power distribution units and power supply units in a chassis or rack used for shared infrastructure or storage chassis and similar systems that do not include a motherboard. DCMI generally lacks scalability and has management software poll sensor data from server information handling systems. Further, DCMI implementations tend to behave in different manners even where provided from a common vendor.